Israeli airstrikes killed at least four people in southern Syria, state media and official sources reported, as the country continues attacks against the new Syrian leadership even while engaging in negotiations.

Since December, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria after an Islamist coalition removed long-time leader Bashar al-Assad. Israel has also begun talks with the interim authorities in Damascus.

Three soldiers were killed in an attack near Damascus, an official from the Ministry of Defense told AFP. “An Israeli drone struck one of the military buildings of the 44th Division of the Syrian Army in Kiswah, west of Damascus, killing three members of the division,” the source said on condition of anonymity.

Earlier the same day, the official SANA agency reported that “a young man was killed in an Israeli strike on a house in the village of Taranja,” on the former Syrian-controlled side of the Golan Heights ceasefire line.

Syria condemned “the recent Israeli attacks on its territory, resulting in the martyrdom of a young man,” its Foreign Ministry said. It also condemned the Israeli forces’ incursion into a town near Quneitra, “quarantines and arrests of civilians,” and “the continued illegal presence on the summit of Mount Hermon and the buffer zone.”

“These aggressive actions constitute clear violations of the UN Charter, international law, and relevant Security Council resolutions and are a direct threat to peace and security in the region,” the Syrian Foreign Ministry emphasized.

The Israeli army stated that over the past week it carried out “several operations in southern Syria to locate weapons and detain suspects.”

The Saudi Foreign Ministry condemned the attacks as “a clear violation of the sovereignty of the brotherly Syrian Arab Republic and international law.” The Qatari Foreign Ministry called on “the international community to take decisive action against the Israeli occupation and compel it to stop repeated attacks on Syrian territory.”

Since Assad’s removal, Israel occupies much of the demilitarized zone patrolled by the UN on the former Syrian-controlled side of the ceasefire line, including the summit of Mount Hermon, the highest point in the region.

Last week, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani met with Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer in Paris to discuss a return to agreements in effect since 1974 following the signing of a disengagement pact. | BGNES